In 1990, I moved in to the “Bos en Lommer” area of West Amsterdam (in Dutch: “Amsterdam West”) to be with my lover at the time. Bos en Lommer is part of the second major expansion of Amsterdam from the city’s original canal centre outwards. ... Originally home to a mostly middle-class population, it has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last three decades, with the most rapid change happening since 2000. In the summer of 1999, while biking towards the Bos en Lommerplein with my lover, we were met with the old familiar slur: “Hey! Faggots!” We were often...
